When I looked up again Gormala recognised the change in me, and her ownexpression became different. The baleful glitter of her eyes faded,and the blind, unreasoning hate and anger turned to keen inquiry. Shewas not now merely baffled in her hopes, and face to face with anunconscious man; there was at least a possibility of her gaining someknowledge, and all the energy of her nature woke again as she spoke:
"So ye are back wi' the moon and me. Whither went ye when ye lay downupon the sand. Was it back ye went, or forrart; wi' the ghaists into theHoly Well and beyond in their manifold course; or back to their comin'frae the sea and all that could there be told? Oh! mon, what it is to methat any ither can gang like that into spirit land, and me have to waithere by my lanes; to wring my hands an' torture my hairt in brokenhopes!" I answered her question with another:
"How do you mean that ghosts go into the well and beyond?" Her answerwas at the first given in a stern tone which became, however, softer, asshe went on.
"Knew ye not, that the Lammas Floods are the carriers o' the Dead; thaton Lammas nicht the Dead can win their way to where they will, under theairth by wherever there is rinnin' watter. Happy be they that can gain aHoly Well, an' so pass into the bowels o' the airth to where they list."
"And how and when do they return?"
"Dinna jest wi' Fate an' the Dead. They in their scope can gang andreturn again; no een, save your ain, o' man or Seer has seen the methodo' their gangin'. No een, even yours, can see them steal out again inthe nicht, when the chosen graves that they hae sought hae taken fromthem the dross o' the airth." I felt it was not wise to talk further, sowithout a word I turned and walked home by the sheep tracks amongst thesand hills. Now and again I stumbled in a rabbit hole, and as I wouldsink forward the wet bent would brush against my face.
The walk back in the dark dawn seemed interminable. All this timemy mind was in a turmoil. I did not even seem to remember anythingdefinitely, or think consecutively; but facts and fancies swept throughmy mind in a chaotic whirl. When I got to the house, I undressed quicklyand got into bed; I must have instantly fallen into a deep sleep.
Next afternoon I walked by the shore to Whinnyfold. It was almostimpossible to believe that I was looking at the same place as on lastnight. I sat on the cliff where I had sat last night, the hot Augustsun and the cool breeze from the sea being inconceivably soothing. So Ithought and thought.... The lack of sufficient sleep the night beforeand the tired feeling of the physical strain I had undergone--myshoulders still ached--told upon me, and I fell asleep.
When I waked Gormala stood in front of me.
After a long pause she spoke:
"I see that ye remember, else would ye ha' spoken to me. Will ye no tellme all that ye saw? Then, wi' your Seer's een an' my knowledge o' thefact we may thegither win oot the great Secret o' the Sea." I feltstronger than ever the instinctive conviction that I must remain keenlyon guard with her. So I said nothing; waiting thus I should learnsomething, whether from her words or her silence. She could not standthis. I saw her colour rise till her face was all aglow with a red flushthat shamed the sunset; and at last the anger blazed in her eyes. It wasin a threatening tone which she spoke, though the words were themselvessufficiently conciliatory:
"The Secrets o' the Sea are to be won; and tae thee and me it is givento win them. What hae been is but an earnest of what will be. For agesithers have tried to win but hae failed; and if we fail too for lack o'purpose or because ye like me not, then to ithers will come in time thegreat reward. For the secrets are there, and the treasures lie awaiting.The way is open for those to whom are the Gifts. Throw not away thefavour of the Fates. For if they be kind to give where they will, theyare hard to thwart, and their revenge is sure!" I must confess that herwords began to weaken my purpose. In one way inexorable logic was onher side. Powers such as were mine were surely given for some purpose.Might I not be wrong in refusing to use them. If the Final Cause ofmy powers were purposeful, then might not a penalty be exacted fromme because I had thwarted the project. Gormala, with that diabolicalcunning of hers, evidently followed the workings of my mind, for herface lit up. How she knew, I know not, but I do know that her eyes neverleft mine. I suppose it may be that the eyes which have power to seeat times the inwardness of things have some abnormal power also ofexpressing the thoughts behind them. I felt, however, that I was indanger. All my instincts told me that once in Gormala's power I shouldrue it, so I spoke out on the instant strongly:
"I shall have nothing to do with you whatever. Last night when yourefused to help me with the wounded man--whom you had followed,remember, for weeks, hoping for his death--I saw you in your truecolours; and I mean to have nothing to do with you." Fierce anger blazedagain in her eyes; but again she controlled herself and spoke with anappearance of calm, though it was won with great effort, as I could seeby the tension of her muscles:
"An' so ye would judge me that I would not help ye to bring the Dead tolife again! I knew that Lauchlane was dead! Aye! and ye kent it too asweel as I did masel'. It needed no Seer to tell that, when ye brocht himup the rocks oot o' the tide. Then, when he was dead, for why wad yeno use him? Do the Dead themselves object that they help the livin' totheir ends while the blood is yet warm in them? Is it ye that object tothe power of the Dead? You whose veins have the power o' divination ofthe quick; you to whom the heavens themselves opened, and the airth andthe watters under the airth, when the spirit of the Dead that ye carriedwalked beside ye as ye ganged to St. Olaf's Well. An' as for me, whathae I done that you should object. I saw, as you did, that Lauchlane'ssands were run. You and I are alike in that. To us baith was given tosee, by signs that ages have made sacred, that Fate had spoken in hisears though he had himself not heard the Voice. Nay more, to me was onlygiven to see that the Voice had spoken. But to you was shown how, andwhen, and where the Doom should come, though you yersel' that can readthe future as no ither that is known, canna read the past; and so couldna tell what a lesser one would ha' guessed at lang syne. I followed theDoom; you followed the Doom. I by my cunnin'; you when ye waked frae yersleep, followin' yer conviction, till we met thegither for Lauchlane'sdeath, amid Lammas floods and under the gowden moon on the gowden sea.Through his aid--aye, young sir--for wi'oot a fresh corp to aid, no Seero' airth could hae seen as ye did, that lang line o' ghaists ye saw lastnicht. Through his aid the wonders o' the heavens and the deep, o' airthand air, was opened till ye. Wha then be ye that condemn me that onlysaw a sign an' followed? Gin I be guilty, what be you?"
It would be impossible to describe the rude, wild, natural eloquencewith which this was spoken. In the sunset, the gaunt woman seemed totower above me; and as she moved her arms, the long shadows of themstretched over the green down before us and away over the wrinkled seaas though her gestures were, giant like, appealing to all nature.
I was distinctly impressed, for all that she said was quite true. Shehad in reality done nothing that the law would call wrong. Lauchlane'sdeath was in no possible way due to any act of hers. She had onlywatched him; and as he did not even know that she watched he could nothave been influenced in any way by it or by her. As to my own part! Herwords gave me a new light. Why had I risen in the night and come out toWhinnyfold? Was it intuition, or a c
all from the witch-woman, who insuch case must have had some hypnotic influence over me? Or was it----?
I stood appalled at the unspoken thought. Could it be that the powersof Nature which had been revealed to me in the dread hour had not onlysentience but purpose!
I felt that my tone was more conciliatory as I answered her:
"I did not mean to blame you for anything you had done. I see now thatyour wrong was only passive." I felt that my words were weak, and myfeeling was emphasised by the scorn of her reply:
"My wrang was only passive! My wrang! What wrang hae I done that youshould sit in judgment on me. Could I hae helpit it when Lauchlane methis death amang the rocks in the tide. Why you yoursel' sat here besideme, an' ye no helpit him or tried to, strong man though ye be, thatcould carry his corp frae here to St. Olaf's Well; for ye kenned that nolivin' arm could aid him in that hour o' doom. Aye! laddie, the Fatesknow their wark o'er weel to hae ony such betterment o' their plans! An'div ye think that by any act o' yer ain, or by any refusal o' act orspeech, ye can baffle the purpose o' the Doom. Ye are yet young andye must learn; then learn it now whiles ye can, that when the Word isspoken all follows as ordained. Aye! though the Ministers o' the Doom bemany an' various, an' though they hae to gather in ane from many agesan' frae the furthermost ends o' the airth!"
Gormala's logic and the exactness of her statement were too much for me.I felt that I owed her some reparation and told her so. She received itin her gaunt way with the dignity of an empress.
But there her dignity stopped; for seeing that she had got a leverin her hands she began at once, womanlike, to use it. Without anyhesitation or delay she asked me straightly to tell her what I had seenthe night before. The directness of her questioning was my best help; myheart hardened and my lips closed. She saw my answer before I had spokenit, and turned away with an eloquent, rugged gesture of despair. Shefelt that her last hope was gone; that her last bolt had been sped invain.
With her going, the link with last night seemed to break, and as shepassed up the road the whole of that strange experience became dimmerand dimmer.
I walked home by Cruden sands in a sort of dream. The chill and strainof the night before seemed to affect me more and more with each hour.Feeling fatigued and drowsy I lay down on my bed and sank into a heavy,lethargic sleep.
The last thing I remember is the sounding of the dinner-gong, and a dimresolution not to answer its call....
* * * * *
It was weeks after, when the fever had passed away, that I left my bedin the Kilmarnock Arms.
CHAPTER VII
FROM OTHER AGES AND THE ENDS OF THE EARTH